UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
MODULE 2 – UNPACKING THE SELF
Chapter 5: Less Stress, More Care
Objectives:
After completing the module, the students are expected to:
1. Explain the effect of stress to one’s health;
2. Examine cultural dimension of stress and coping; and
3. Design a self-care plan
Learning Contents:
Stress
The American Psychological Association (2017) has these statements about stress:
“Stress is often describe as a feeling of overwhelmed, worried or run-down. Stress can
affect people of all ages, genders and circumstances and can lead to both physical and
psychological issues.”
Stress is any uncomfortable “emotional experience accompanied by predictable
biochemical, physiological and behavioral changes.
“Some Stress can be beneficial at times, producing a boost that provides the drive and
energy to help people get through situations like exams or works deadlines. However,
an extreme amount of stress can have health consequences and adversely affect the
immune, cardiovascular, neuroendocrine and nervous systems”.
and aspirations of the people, embodies the rules and principle of the States, and
determines the status and power of the people.
Stress and Human Response
The American Institute of Stress distinguished different type of stress and the human
response to it (AIS, 2017).
Hans Selye defined stress as the body’s nonspecific response to any demand whether it
is caused by or results in pleasant or unpleasant stimuli.
Eustress is stress in daily life that has positive connotations such as marriage,
promotion, baby, winning money, new friends and graduation.
Distress is stress in daily life that has negative connotations such as divorce,
punishment, injury, negative feelings, financial problems and work difficulties.
General Stress Syndrome
Affects the whole body. Stress always manifests itself by as syndrome, a sum of
changes, not by simply one change.
Three components of General Stress Syndrome:
1. The Alarm Stage – represents a mobilization of the body’s defensive forces. The
body is preparing for the “fight or flight” syndrome. This involves a number of
hormones and chemical excreted at high levels, as well as an increase in heart
rate, blood pressure, perspiration, respiration rate, etc.
2. The Stage of Resistance – The body becomes adaptive to the challenge end
even begins to resist it. The length of this stage is dependent upon the body’s
innate and stored adaptation energy reserves and upon the intensity of the
stressor.
3. The Exhaustion Stage – The body dies because it has used up its resources of
adaptation energy.
Stress diseases are maladies caused principally by errors in the body General
Adaptation process. They will not occur when all the body’s regulatory processes are
properly checked and balanced. They will not developed when adaptation is facilitated
by improved perception and interpretation.
Chronic Stress is unpleasant, even when it is transient. A stressful situation – whether
something environmental, such s looming work deadline or psychological, such as
persistent worry about losing a job – can trigger a cascade of stress hormones that
produce well-orchestrated physiological changes.
This combination of reactions to stress is also known as the “fight or flight” response
because it evolved a survival mechanism, enabling people and mammals to react
quickly to life-threatening situations.
The body can also overact to stressors that are not life-threatening, such as traffic jams,
work pressure and family difficulties.
Research suggests that chronic stress contributes to high blood pressure, promotes the
formation of artery-clogging deposits, and causes brain changes that may contribute to
anxiety, depression and addiction. More preliminary researches that chronic stress may
also contribute to obesity, both to direct mechanism (causing people to eat more) or
indirectly (decreasing sleep and exercise).
The stress response begins in the brain. When someone confronts an oncoming car or
other danger, the eyes or the ears send the information to the amygdala – an area of
the brain that contributes to the emotional processing. The Amygdala interprets
the images and sounds. When it perceives danger, it instantly sends a distress signal to
the hypothalamus.
The hypothalamus is a bit like a command center. This area of the brain communicates
with the rest of the body through the autonomous nervous system.
2 Components of Autonomous Nervous System
1. Sympathetic Nervous System – functions like a gas pedal, it triggers the “fight
or flight” response, providing the body with a burst of energy so that t can all
respond to perceived dangers
2. Parasympathetic Nervous System – acts like a brake, it promotes the “rest and
digest” response that calms the body down after the danger has passed.
After the amygdala sends a distress signal, the hypothalamus activates the
Sympathetic Nervous System by sending signals through the Autonomic nerves to the
adrenal glands. These glands respond by pumping the hormone epinephrine (also
known as adrenaline) into the blood stream. As epinephrine circulates through the
body, it brings on a number of physiological changes. The heart beats faster than
normal, pushing blood to the muscles, heart, and other vital organs.
,
The person undergoing these changes also starts to breathe more rapidly. Small
airways in the lungs open wide. This way the lungs can take in as much oxygen as
possible with each breath. Extra oxygen is sent to the brain, increasing alertness.
HPA Axis – the second component of the stress response system. This network
consists of the hypothalamus, pituitary gland and the adrenal glands.
The HPA axis relies on a series of hormonal signal to keep the sympathetic nervous
system or the “gas pedal” – pressed down. If the brain continuous to perceive
something as dangerous, the hypothalamus releases corticotropin-realeasing
hormone (CRH), which travels to the pituitary gland, triggering the release of
adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). This hormones travels to adrenal glands,
prompting the release of cortisol. The body thus stay on high alert. When the threat
passes, cortisol level falls. The parasympathetic nervous system or “the brake” – then
dampens the stress response.
Techniques to Counter Chronic Stress
Relaxation response
Physical activity
Social Support
Cultural Dimension of Stress and Coping
Ben Kuo (2010) reviews studies on cultural dimensions of stress and coping. His study,
Culture Consequences on Coping: Theories, Evidences and Dimensionalities, published
in Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology had the following findings:
1. Stress and coping research constitutes one of the most intensively studied areas
within health, social and psychological research, because of its broad
implications for understanding human well-being and adaptation
2. Stress and coping are universal experiences faced by individuals regardless of
culture, ethnicity and race, but members of different cultures might consider and
respond to stressors differently with respect to coping goals, strategies and
outcomes.
Kuo’s study identified and revealed compelling evidence for cultural variations and
specifications of coping, based on theoretical and empirical findings generated over the
last two decades’ cultural coping research.
Based on the problem-focused and emotion-focused coping are terms of coping
mechanism repeated studies have pointed to the prevalence of “emotion-focused”,
“indirect”, “passive” or “covert”, “internally target or “secondary control” coping among
individuals of Asian Background, as well as, to a lesser extent, among individuals of
African and Latino backgrounds.
The avoidance, withdrawal and forbearance coping methods are common among
Asians, while spiritual, ritual-based coping are common among African American and
African Canadian. Additionally, spiritual and religious coping and coping through family
support are common among individuals of Latino/Latina backgrounds.
Furthermore, emotion-focused has been shown beneficial (e.g., reducing distress) for
Asian Americans and Asian Canadians in dealing with various stressors including
Family conflict and racial discrimination. Problem-focused coping also has been found
to be effective with for Asian Americans and Asian Canadians in responding to male
gender conflicts, racial discrimination, and cross cultural adjustment. For non-Asians
emotion-focused coping was shown to be negative in increasing stress for
African-American adult caregivers but problem-focused coping was shown to be
negative in exacerbating stress for Hispanic-American college students in facing family
conflict.
As evident, the existing knowledge on the adaptive quality of different coping strategies
is currently incomplete and inconclusive and necessities further research.
Finally, this review also points to coping’s link to
a.
Broad societal climate
a.
Individuals acculturation and ethnic identity
a.
Primarily/internally versus secondary/externally controlled orientations
a.
Accessibility and attitudes toward seeking social and family support
a.
Degrees ofreligious/spiritual beliefs and identifications.
These findings further underscore the significance of person-cultural environment
interaction in the coping process and provide corroborating evidence in support of the
contextual and transactional theories of coping.
Self-care Therapy
A positive way to counter stress in self-care therapy. Nancy Apperson (2008) of
Northern Illinois University has provided steps for self-care:
1. Stop, Breathe, and tell yourself: “This is hard and I would get through this 1 step
at a time.
2. Acknowledge to yourself, what you are feeling. All feelings are normal so accept
whatever you are feeling.
3. Find someone who listens and is accepting. You don’t need advice. You need to
be heard.
4. Maintain your normal routine as much as possible.
5. Allow plenty of time for a task.
6. Take good care of yourself
a. Get enough sleep. Sleep at least 6 hours and not more than 9 hours.
b. Eat regularly and make healthy choices.
c. Know your limits and when you need to let go.
d. Identify or create a nurturing place in your home.
e. Practice relaxation or meditation.
Self-Compassion Therapy
Self-Compassion is another way to counter Stress. Kristin Neff (2012) has discussed
self-compassion in her article, The Science of Self-Compassion:
Self-Compassion entails being warm and understanding toward ourselves when we
suffer, fail, or feel inadequate, rather than flagellating ourselves with criticism. It
recognize being imperfect and experiencing life difficulties is inevitable, so we nurture
ourselves when confronting our pain rather than getting angry when life fails short of our
ideals.
Self-Compassion Phrases
When you’re feeling stress or emotional pain – perhaps you are caught in traffic jam,
arguing with a loved one, or feeling inadequate in some way – it is helpful to have a set
of phrases memorized to help you remember to be more compassionate to yourself in
the moment.
This is a moment of suffering
Suffering is a part of life
May I be kind to myself
May I give myself the compassion that I need
First Phrase- helps to mindfully open to the sting of emotional pain.
Second Phrase- reminds us that suffering unites all living beings
Third Phrase- begins the process of responding with self-kindness rather than
self-criticism.
Final Phrase- you both need and deserve compassion in difficult moments.
Self-Compassion and Emotional Well-Being
Greater self-compassion is linked to less anxiety and depression. A key feature of
self-compassion is the lack of self-criticism – known to be an important predictor of
anxiety and depression. However, Self-compassion still offers protection against anxiety
and depression when controlling for self-criticism and negative effect. Thus,
self-compassion is not a merely a matter of looking at the bright side or avoiding
negative feelings. Self-compassionate people recognize when they are suffering but,
are kind toward themselves in these moments.
Self-Compassion, Motivation and Health
Research supports the idea that self-compassion enhances motivation rather than
self-indulgence. While self-compassion is negatively related to perfectionism, it has no
association with the level of performance standards adopted for the self.
Self-compassionate people:
● Aim just as high, but also recognize and accept that they cannot always reach
their goals,
● is also linked to greater personal initiative; the desire to reach one’s potential
● found to have less motivational anxiety and engage in fewer self-handicapping
behaviors such as procrastination than those who lack self-compassion
● was positively associated with mastery goals-the intrinsic motivation to learn and
grow
Thus, Self-compassionate people are motivated to achieve but for intrinsic reasons, not
because they want to garner social approval.
Self-Compassion versus Self-Esteem
Research indicates that self-compassion is moderately associated with trait levels of
self-esteem (Neff 2012) as one would expect given that both represent positive attitudes
toward the self. However, self-compassion still predicts greater happiness and optimism
as well as less depression and anxiety when controlling for self-esteem. Also,
Self-Esteem had a robust association with narcissism while self-compassion has no
association with narcissism. In contrast to those with high self-esteem,
self-compassionate people are less focused on evaluating themselves, feeling superior
to others, worrying or not others are evaluating them, defending their viewpoints or
angrily reacting against those who disagree with them.
Self-Compassionate Letter
An example of a self-compassion exercise in the self-compassionate letter. This
exercise has been used to therapeutic programs.
● Candidly describe a problem that tends you make you feel bad about yourself,
such as physical flaw, a relationship problem, or failure at work or school. Note
what emotions come up – shame, anger, sadness, fear – as you write.
● Next, think an imaginary friend who is unconditionally accepting and
compassionate; someone who knows your strengths and weaknesses,
understand your life history, your current circumstances, and understands the
limit of a human nature.
● Finally, write a letter to yourself from that perspective. What would your friend say
about your perceived problem? What word he or she use to convey deep
compassion? How would your friend remind you that you are only human? If your
friend were to make suggestions, how would they reflect unconditional
understanding??
● When you are done writing, put the letter down in a while and come back to it
later.
● Read the letter again, letting the words sink in, allowing yourself to be soothed
and comforted.
Less stress, Care More
We should be in control of the stress that confronts us every day. Otherwise, when we
are overwhelmed, it is so detrimental to our health. Self-care and Self-Compassion are
two ways to positively confront stress. We should love and care for our self more and
more each day.